The Minister of Health of Nigeria, Prof. Isaac Adewole, CGH faculty, and panelists

at the Global Health Symposium

Global Health Symposium: "Elevating the Quality and Reach of Healthcare in Africa"

Isaac Adewole, MBBS, Minister of Health of Nigeria, and adjunct Professor of Medicine at Feinberg School of Medicine, delivered the keynote address at a Global Health Symposium during Feinberg's Global Health Days. Adewole discussed the particular challenges of healthcare on the continent — including a high disease burden and a low density of physicians — as well as some notable and recent successes. “It’s not all gloom,” Adewole said. “When sufficiently supported, the health system in Africa can also perform well,” giving the example of an effective Ebola response in Nigeria, as well as rising life expectancy rates across the continent. His lecture was followed by two panel discussions stocked with a group of African healthcare experts, and moderated by Babafemi Taiwo, MBBS, associate professor of Medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases.

Global Health Days

During the two-day Global Health Days, faculty and students attended a talk on “Global Frontiers in HIV/AIDS Treatment and Care.” John Idoko, director general for Nigerian Agency for Control of AIDS, first spoke on HIV prevention and treatment programs in his country. Kathleen Squires, MD, chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Thomas Jefferson University, followed with an overview of the current HIV situation in the United States. At a poster session the following day, medical students presented their global health research conducted at sites around the world, including Bolivia, Belize, China, Tanzania, Albania and India. Honorable mentions went to Matt Doerfler, whose work centered on assessing the use of the novel sputum collection cup, Jonathan Judkins, for his research on palliative care services in Albania, and Hayley Sparks, who studied the use of donor expressed breast milk in a maternity hospital in Cape Town. Lauren Ammerman was named the overall winner for her poster on liver disease in naïve HIV and HBV co-infected Tanzanians. Read more about Global Health Days from Feinberg News.

Profile of Dr. Robert Murphy and CGH

Northwestern Magazine featured Dr. Murphy’s career in HIV research, clinical care, and his dedication to the field of global health in their Fall issue:
In 2004 Murphy was appointed Nigerian country director for the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, a federal program to combat HIV/AIDS, and charged with training thousands of clinical staff in how to prevent, identify and treat the virus. Confronting the epidemic in Africa was no different than in Chicago, he says, “but with 20 times more patients and less than 1 percent of the resources.” Under his leadership as country director, the PEPFAR program set up 53 clinics across Nigeria, testing and treating an estimated 175,000 patients, which proved to be both extremely challenging and professionally rewarding. “It gave me and my colleagues a chance to participate in the largest public health project in African history.” Read the full story.

"In the West we have a false sense that the AIDS crisis is over.
It’s not over in Africa, and until we have a cure,
it’s not over at home either."

Research

A Human-Centered Approach to Health and Microfinance

4th year medical student Claudia Leung is a recipient of the Doris Duke Foundation International Clinical Research Fellowship. Last fall, she set out to do community based participatory research to gather information about the local community and learn about their barriers to care. She and her team conducted 21 focus group discussions including community members and clinicians. Discussion topics covered people’s experiences with the public healthcare system, traditional healers and private practitioners, with a focus on what healthcare is like for patients with chronic diseases. Continue reading.

BME Frameworks Grant Facilitates Needs-Based Innovation

Investigators on the Frameworks grant for Developing Innovative Interdisciplinary Biomedical Engineering (BME) Programs in Africa (D43) are visiting for a month-long professional development and training program. Faculty from the University of Ibadan and the University of Lagos attended the Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES) Annual Meeting in Minneapolis and also meetings at the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) in Chicago. The grant focuses on designing, testing, and scaling up production of medical devices and products for LMICs using local infrastructure and personnel. It is a collaboration between NU's Feinberg, McCormick, and Kellogg, the Universities of Ibadan and Lagos, and the University of Cape Town. Read about this and other training grants with CGH.

Surgery Residents Expand Trauma Registry in Bolivia

Boeck helped develop a hospital-based trauma registry for injury surveillance, to serve as a foundation for future injury prevention strategies and to improve the safety and quality of healthcare delivered. Boeck said she hopes the project, part of the Northwestern Trauma and Surgical Initiative, will strengthen Bolivia’s existing emergency response and trauma system. Boeck’s project was funded by the Global Health Initiative at the CGH, the Center for Surgery and Public Health at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School and Harvard T. Chan School of Public Health. Read the article.

Education

Interview with Feinberg Student Chris Feng

Chris Feng is a medical student graduating with the class of 2017:
"In conjunction with the staff at the clinic, I am working on a project that elucidates healthcare needs and barriers to care within the 10 communities of Palajunoj Valley. The needs assessment study will be a collaboration with Guatemalan medical staff to administer surveys to Mayan families in each community. The results will allow the clinic to streamline its limited resources, help expand services, and even open a new clinic in the near future". Read the full interview with Chris here.

9th Annual Global Health Initiative Fund Benefit Dinner

Feinberg medical students, faculty, and generous donors to the Global Health Initiative (GHI) Fund gathered at the Peninsula Hotel on October 4th for the GHI's 9th annual benefit dinner. GHI founder Dr. Robert Havey gave a dinner address and Brianna Knoll, enrolled in Feinberg MD program and Kellogg’s MBA program, shared her recent experiences on a clinical rotation in Tanzania. We thank all of the GHI donors for their many years of supporting global health opportunities for medical students, residents, and faculty. Watch the 2016 GHI video or learn more about funding opportunities through GHI.

Feinberg medical students, faculty, and donors to the Global Health Initiative Fund enjoyed an evening at the Peninsula on October 4th. Pictured clockwise from top left: a conversation between M4 Jonathan Hourmozdi, alum Paul Bonucci, MD, and Missy Scott; Feinberg medical students pose for a picture; Donna LaPietra and Bill Kurtis; M4 Brianna Knoll delivers a dinner address; Pat Ryan and Andy McKenna on the terrace.

Donate to the Global Health
Strategic Initiative

Donate to global health research and education at CGH through the Feinberg alumni giving page, under "Strategic Initiatives: Global Health"

Center for Global Health Wednesday Lectures

Write to us!

Are you a member of CGH? Do you have a project in global health that you would like to share with the community? We would love to include you in our newsletter! Contact natalie.sheneman@northwestern.edu.